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Can Tokyo Become That Financial POWER House Now?
September 13, 2022 @ 12:30 pm - 2:00 pm JST
Free
Hong Kong and Singapore used to be amongst the ‘go to’ destinations for global businesses who wanted to establish regional headquarters in APAC. Every multi-national who wanted to have a global presence just had to have an office in one or both of these locations. But with growing geopolitical tensions over Hong Kong and Greater China, increasingly protectionist trends in Singapore and overly restrictive pandemic measures in both cities, these places no longer hold the same appeal. Perfect chance for Japan to step in with Tokyo as an option for MNCs around the world. Of course, Japan is not exactly perfect with fewer fluent English speakers or higher surface taxation than Singapore for example, but Tokyo has a lot of potential and advantages, a lot of which Japan has been sometimes clumsy at highlighting.
This bid by Japan and Tokyo to re-establish itself once again as a global financial center like London or New York has been in the news for a few years now. Can Japan step up to the plate and start hitting some homeruns that would bring in the MNCs? We’ll find out about Japan and Tokyo’s new strategy and concrete actions in September at the CI network lunch. We’ll welcome Mr. Laurent Depus, an ambassador for FinCity Tokyo, the promotional organ of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, established in 2019 in close coordination with Japan’s central government (FinCity.Tokyo | The Organization of Global Financial City Tokyo). He is also a board member of SMBC Trust Bank with years of experience in Finance in Japan and globally. Laurent will share with us
- What Japan is doing to attract global companies back to Japan
- Challenges from the outside to Tokyo becoming a financial center
- Regulatory changes necessary in order to keep this transformation moving
Join us for another fantastic event that will help you see the inside story as things transform around us.
More About Mr. Depus
A Belgian citizen, Laurent began his banking career in 1987 at the Chase Manhattan Bank in Luxembourg and has held senior leadership positions in the financial services industry for 35 years in Europe, South-East Asia and, since 1988, in Japan.
Experience in Banking, Securities, Trust Banking and Wealth Management, across US, European and Japanese institutions.
Appointed as a Director of the International Bankers Association in Japan (IBAJ) in 2012 and Vice Chairman in 2020-2021.
Chief Country Representative for France’s Societe Generale Group in Japan (2001-2013) and Natixis CIB (2014-2021)
In 2013, he joined SMBC Trust Bank as Chairman and Director upon the acquisition by SMBC of the Societe Generale Trust Banking license.
He has served as a Director of the Board at SMBC Trust Bank since its establishment.
He is the Representative Director of Escapade Japan Co. Ltd. supporting companies on governance, strategy and organizational matters.